The present invention relates to communications systems and in particular to a communications system and method which treats different types of communications in a similar manner and provide a uniform presentation for different types of communications. The present invention also relates to a communications system and method which provides local switching control of telephone interface circuits to network channels to avoid glare situations.
Communications systems in the past have treated different types of communications differently. Specifically, telephone calls, electronic mail (e-mail), voice mail, facsimile messages and video calls have all been handled by these communications systems using separate applications. These separate applications typically have different functions and all work slightly different making applications integration difficult.
Communications systems having xe2x80x9cuniversal in-boxesxe2x80x9d to handle e-mail, voice mail and facsimile messages have also been considered. These communications systems are based on a client-server architecture with the server acting as the central processor and controlling data flow in the communications system. Telephone call control is also handled by the server. Although this type of communications system provides a xe2x80x9cuniversal in-boxxe2x80x9d, the different types of communications are still handled differently. Also, the centralized server to control communications can become a bottleneck in the communications system. In addition, in these communications systems, when one party wishes to place another party on hold, that party must signal the server to connect the other party""s channel to silence and connect their channel to dial tone. If the party placed on hold is manipulating their channels, glare situations can arise. As should be appreciated by those of skill in the art, these communications systems constrain users to communicate in ways fixed by the communications system. Thus, users are required to adapt to the constraints of the communications system, rather than the communications system adapting to the needs of the users.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel communications system and method which obviates and mitigates at least one of the above-described disadvantages.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of operating a communications system comprising the steps of:
providing a plurality of desktop controller agents for receiving goal commands (goals) from agents and for invoking processes to achieve said goals;
providing a plurality of resource agents, each in communication with an associated device for receiving and storing goals from a desktop controller agent and for operating said associated device in response thereto;
interconnecting all of said agents and carrying goals between said agents;
maintaining communications folders for said agents, each said communications folder including a log of communications made using devices associated with a respective desktop controller agent; and
selectively including attachments to accompany communications made using said devices.
Preferably, at least one communications folder is maintained for each agent representing a person or people with different roles. It is also preferred that the different types of communications includes voice calls, video calls, appointments, shared data calls, e-mails, voice mails and facsimile messages.
Preferably, each desktop controller agent is created by a user agent and has jurisdiction over a plurality of resource agents. Each of the resource agents receives and stores goals and operates an associated device to permit the different types of communications to occur between agents who have jurisdiction over desktop controller agents.
Preferably, each role agent stores the at least one communications folder for an associated user agent and creates entries for the logs as communications are made and received. It is also preferred that each role agent executes a script to create each log entry. It is also preferred that the logs can be sorted and configured to display entries in basically any convenient and desired manner. Preferably the desktop controller agents create operating system monitor agents to monitor the operating systems of computers so that the role agents can create logs of created files to allow files to be linked to entries in the communications logs.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a communications system comprising:
a plurality of desktop controller agents for receiving goal commands (goals) and for invoking a process to achieve said goals;
a plurality of resource agents, each in communication with an associated device for receiving and storing goals from a desktop controller agent and for operating said associated device in response to receiving said goals from a desktop controller agent;
a network interconnecting all of said agents and carrying goals between said agents;
communications folders for said agents, each said communications folder including a log of communications made using devices associated with a respective desktop controller agent; and
attachments to accompany selectively communications made using said devices.
According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a communications system comprising:
a plurality of process agents for receiving goal commands (goals) in the form of signals defining tasks to be performed to establish telephone calls;
a plurality of connection agents, each in communication with an associated telephone interface circuit for receiving and storing goals from a process agent and for operating said associated telephone interface circuit in response to receiving said goals from a process agent to establish a telephone call from one telephone interface circuit to another; and
a network interconnecting all of said agents and carrying goals between said agents thereby, said connection agents locally controlling connection of said telephone interface circuits to channels of said network.
In still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of operating a communications system comprising the steps of:
providing a plurality of process agents for receiving goal commands (goals) in the form of signals defining tasks to be performed to establish telephone calls;
providing a plurality of connection agents, each in communication with an associated telephone interface circuit for receiving and storing goals from a process agent and for operating said associated telephone interface circuit in response to receiving said goals from a process agent to establish a telephone call from one telephone interface circuit to another;
interconnecting all of said agents and carrying goals between said agents; and
locally controlling connection of said telephone interface circuits to channels of said network via said connection agents.
According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a communications system comprising:
a network having a plurality of channels;
a plurality of telephone devices connectable to one or more channels of said network to establish telephone connections between telephone devices; and
switch means acting between each of said telephone devices and said network, each said switch means being locally controlled to connect said assciated telephone device to selected channels of said network.
According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of operating a communications system comprising the steps of:
providing a plurality of desktop controller agents for receiving goal commands (goals) from agents and for invoking processes to achieve said goals;
providing a plurality of resource agents, each in communication with an associated device for receiving and storing goals from a desktop controller agent and for operating said associated device in response thereto;
interconnecting all of said agents and carrying goals between said agents;
maintaining communications folders for said agents, each said communications folder including a log of communications made using devices associated with a respective desktop controller agent; and
selectively executing routines to sort entries in said log thereby to generate reports.
According to still yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a communications system comprising:
a plurality of desktop controller agents for receiving goal commands (goals) and for invoking a process to achieve said goals;
a plurality of resource agents, each in communication with an associated device for receiving and storing goals from a desktop controller agent and for operating said associated device in response to receiving said goals from a desktop controller agent;
a network interconnecting all of said agents and carrying goals between said agents;
communications folders for said agents, each said communications folder including a log of communications made using devices associated with a respective desktop controller agent; and
selectable executable routines to sort entries in said log thereby to generate reports.
The present invention provides advantages in that since different types of communications are treated the same, similar services and features can be applied to different types of communications thereby facilitating applications integration. Also, by treating different types of communications the same, a uniform presentation can be used for all types of communications. In addition, since the communications system breaks the client-server mold and relies on peer to peer communications, connection control between parties is handled locally avoiding glare situations from occurring.